Gallagher, C (Charles)
Gallagher, C (Charles)
Corporal Charles Gallagher served with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion. He served in France from 1939 to 1940 where they fought many desperate rear-guard actions before being evacuated from Dunkirk.[1]
Following this the battalion served in Madagascar, India, and Persia until June 1943. On that month, they arrived in Egypt to participate in Operation Husky.[2]
The battalion landed in Cassibile[3] and fought right through to the slopes of Mount Etna[4] before moving onto mainland Europe where on the 3rd of September 1943 they had landed in Reggio,[5] Italy, meeting no opposition. Following this they advanced for fifteen days to the town of Isernia,[6] which they liberated.
The 17th of January 1944 found them assaulting the Gustav Line[7] on the Adriatic coast. Receiving heavy casualties, they ultimately broke through and advanced.
By March, the Inniskillings had landed in Anzio,[8] here they got embroiled in heavy fighting with the Germans which resulted in more heavy casualties for the battalion.
July 1944 found the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers absorb the remaining members of the disbanded 6th Battalion. The 2nd went on to fight through Italy and finally finished the war in Austria.
Corporal Charles Gallagher would see the end of the war, but unfortunately not the end of the year as he passed away by that time at St. Pancras in London, cause of death unknown, but possibly from wounds. No further information can be found at present.
Date of Death: 13/11/1945 (Aged 26)
Service: Corporal, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion.
Service Number: 6979832
Burial Location: Londonderry (or Derry), City Cemetery, Sec. M.
Class D. Grave 1325.
[1] British suffered around 68,000 killed or captured at the Battle of Dunkirk, around 340,000 where rescued.
[2] Operation Husky was the invasion of Sicily.
[3] Cassibile is in the southern end of the island of Sicily.
[4] Mt Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe, located in the north-east part of Sicily. It is about 65 miles from Cassibile.
[5] Reggio is in the most south-western part of Italy, only a few miles across the water from Sicily.
[6] Town of Isernia is around 350 north-east of Reggio.
[7] The Gustav Line was a staunch defensive line built by the Germans that spanned from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Adriatic Sea. Located south-east of Rome and North of Naples
[8] Anzio is on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy.
